


The Devils Advocate

by eastsidechinchillas



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, but just in case im adding definitions in the authors notes, honestly i want this to be a really light fic, i dont think you need to know much about it to read tho, i feel like there isnt enough light in the fantasy genre, ill be adding tags as i go along so dont be suprised, this is based on d&d
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2019-07-18 14:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16119944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eastsidechinchillas/pseuds/eastsidechinchillas
Summary: Chan bolted upright, Milil's words echoing in his head, “travel to Asteria you will find what you need along the way, I will give you instructions when you arrive in the city, have fun ~”-------Chan considered himself unimportant, but then again when did that ever matter to the god's, which is how he finds himself traveling all across the damn continent of nortsylver for a vague mission for the god of music and somehow finding a family along the way.





	1. The Cleric

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan finds a stray?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Milil: the fictional god of song and poetry  
> Cleric: conduits of godly magic; the gods choose them to fulfill their duties and in turn, they gain magic abilities as long as they serve their god. not all gods are good in this world, and not all priests can be clerics. clerics are typically the healers in groups.

_Chan bolted upright,_ _Milil's_ _words echoing in his head, “travel to asteria you will find what you need along the way, I will give you instructions when you arrive in the city, have fun ~”_

 

The memory of the light and voice did nothing to ease his mind. Actually, it did quite the opposite. His mind wandered back into focus from his visions, hearing the music and light conversations around him. He needed some fresh air so he left some coins on the table and stepped out of the tavern and into the cool night air. It was still early in the night so there was still a bit of light out only enough to see in front of As him. He light autumn breeze blew past his face he contemplated his difficult mission. If he ever met milil in his life he swore he was going to kick the guy in the shin. It's not that he didn't like milil, he did, it's just that he wished he wouldn't send him on very vague missions that included the instructions “I’ll tell you more info whenever I want, good luck”. He was thinking so hard he almost missed the voices emanating from the alleyway

 

"Oh please," the voice growled lowly, almost a whisper; the silence on the abandoned street enough for it to be heard. "Even your parents are ashamed of making something of their kind. I'm sure you are no more than a mistake."

 

It was clear to Chan, from where he was standing, that the smaller boy was visibly shaking; though from fear or anger he could not tell in such low lighting. although he was shaking the boy did not move or say a word and the bigger boy was obviously starting to get annoyed at his lack of reaction and pulled his arm back to throw a punch

 

Chan, acting faster than his brain could think, decides to jump in before the fight actually begins. Stepping away from where he was not hiding, he threw out his arm causing a loud _pop_ to erupt between the two boys; sending the larger one tumbling to the ground.

 

Chan, stepping in between the boys, put on his best authoritative tone, "what do you think you're doing?"

Chan knew that he wasn't the tallest or the most well-built person on the planet but he hoped that his armor and holy symbol would be enough to deter any resistance since he couldn't very well pull out an entire spear in such a close space as this alleyway.

 

Sure enough, the boy took one look at Chan's glowering form with his shield and spear and his arms crossed in front of him and decided that he wasn't someone he wanted to mess with tonight.

 

Chan waited till he could no longer see the boys retreating figure to turn to the smaller, who had his hands raised up like he was going to block something, probably the punch that was supposed to come his way, and he was staring at Chan's face, completely shell-shocked.

 

Chan took a step back before speaking "are you...alright?" his voice seemed to snap the boy out of his shocked trance and he immediately went into a full bow.

"T-thank you, for helping me, I could never repay you for what you d-did," he stuttered out, voice shaking.

 

Chan finally got a proper look at him. Though there wasn't much to look at with his hood up, he could slightly see the horns poking up through his hair and the slightly unnatural pink tinge to his skin; Chan knew what that meant but he couldn't quite hate the shaking, stuttering young man in front of him for even a second. Kneeling down and placing his hand on the boy's shoulder he said: "Would you like something to eat?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I hope you all liked the first chapter o((*^▽^*))o  
> if you're reading this because you follow me on Tumblr I definitely want to know if this is what you expected it to be like (i talked about it a lot whoops)  
> if you don't follow me on Tumblr you should @honeyboyhyunjin (or @spookyboyfelix for the month of October ;)  
> this work was created by me and my co-creator @gaylids  
> (special s/o to my girlfriend and the noodle daddy crew who got to read all the chapters super early)


	2. The warlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan accidentally adopts a kid- more at 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tiefling: half humanoid and half fiend, they come in every color you could imagine and have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors—black, red, white, silver, or gold—with no visible sclera or pupil. People tend to be suspicious of tieflings, assuming that their infernal heritage has left its mark on their personality and morality, not just their appearance. Years of dealing with mistrust does leave its mark on most tieflings, and they respond to it in different ways. Some choose to live up to the wicked stereotype, but others are virtuous. Most are simply very aware of how people respond to them.

Chan never thought he'd be eating in his room with a tiefling, but here he was. Armor off in the corner, eating chicken and trying not to intimidate the poor boy to death. The boy looked hungry, not starving but still not well fed enough, and that made Chan's chest hurt even though he didn't really know much about him He had insisted on eating somewhere private and Chan understand why. With the boys hood down Chan could fully see the small spiraling horns that stuck up from his temples. Despite knowing the boy's heritage, he didn't feel the need to be scared or cautious around him at all. Milil would say that he was too nice, but he thought it had to do with the fact that, as a cleric, he could sense evil and that was definitely not the vibe he was getting from the still-shaking boy eating just across from him. He didn't seem scared, though; it was more of a nervous shake, as he glanced every few minutes at the holy symbol hanging from Chan’s neck and then back down to his food.

Taking a deep breath, Chan started to speak "I have some questions if that's alright with you?" The boy nodded to continue, moving his nearly empty plate of food to the side

"Ok, well, first... what's your name?"

 

The boy paused and then said sharply "Changbin."

 

As Chan opened his mouth to return the favor, the tiefling interrupted him with a quick but quiet “Why did you help me?”

 

Chan closed his mouth and thought for a moment. _Why did he save him?_ He thought. The answer was simple.

 

“It was the right thing to do”

 

The boy, Changbin, nodded; he seemed to accept this answer.

“Ok now that we've cleared that up, my name is Chan and I'm a cleric,” he touched his holy symbol “but you already know that” he smiled lightheartedly and continued “are you from here? Is there anywhere for you to go tonight?”

Changbin kept a neutral expression all the way through, only moving his eyes to follow Chan's movements. Now realizing that he was probably in no real danger anymore his expression softened a bit

“I am from here but I've been adventuring recently and I've just decided to come back home,” he answered “or whatever you can consider a home here for me,” he added in a bitter whisper.

 

Chan felt his heartstrings tug in protest. "You didn't ask to be born like this, though," he muttered, and then immediately spit out "do you what to come with me!"

 

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them "I-I'm traveling to Asteria tomorrow and you don't look like you want to stay in this town any longer than you have to." he cursed himself and his loud mouth and big heart.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Changbin’s whole body froze. He could only hear the words echoing in his head like an alarm. He needed to get a hold of himself. "Oh, uhm. It’s funny that you ask that, I was actually planning to go to Asteria as well to… find someone." He didn't mean to sound unsure, but he wasn't used to this at all.

 

"So...is that a yes? You'll go with me?" the man - Chan - said, raising his eyebrow

 

That made Changbin pause again. _Should he go with this stranger?_ _The road to asteria was very long, and also very dangerous, and a cleric to watch his back wouldn't hurt, theoretically - and he did save his face earlier so he couldn't possibly be out for him,_ he thought. But another voice thought, _He didn't know you were a demon and now he's just trying to not make you mad._

 

He shook that voice away. The pros far outweigh the cons. He could always ditch him at any time while they traveled, he reasoned.

 

"Yeah, sure, sounds like a plan," he hastily got up to leave and think about his recent life choices.

 

"Great! we leave tomorrow. meet me in the town square; I need to pick up some supplies first yeah?"

Changbin simply nodded and slipped out of the room.

 

Chan waited till the door was completely closed before sinking into his bed.

 

This was going to be a long trip, he just knew it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this feels like a father talking to his emo son he just adopted lol (i mean that's really what it is huh)  
> follow me on tumblr @honeyboyhyunjin (or @spookyboyfelix for the month of October ;) if you wanna talk about this fic (i also really really love fanart and i will drown you in tears if you draw something for me)  
> tell me what you think. what do you think will happen next? what do you think Milil's plan is? how many details will I actually forget about and then have to retcon or remind people of later? the world will never know


	3. and the thief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its all fun and games till you have a knife pressed to your back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's moving the defenitions to the bottom now i like them there better tbh

Changbin could not believe he was doing this.  _ Why did he agree to go with this guy he didn't even know? _ No matter how much he didn't want to do this there was just something telling him he had to do it like it was his destiny. It is a giant coincidence that the one person in the entire town who will talk to him just happens to also be going to the same place as him but he tries to shake that thought out of his head as he steps in the square.

 

The town square was a giant cobblestone space with small vendors and shops surrounding it. It was currently the bane of Changbin's existence. He wouldn't say he was short (he was) but there were a lot of people here, and it was hard to see over all of them, and he didn't really know where exactly Chan wanted to meet him. Giving up on trying to find him in the mess of people trying to buy potatoes, he decided it was better to just sit and wait for Chan to come find him instead, so he picked a less noisy corner and took out his book.

 

The book could hardly be considered such. It was more of a small journal with handwritten notes - or, at least, that's what Changbin assumed they were since he couldn't exactly read the jumbled pictures that resembled ancient hieroglyphs. He traced the odd symbols once more before looking up to see if Chan had finally found him, he wouldn't want the boy to sneak up on him. Looking around he could just see the back of Chans sparkling silver hair, which he didn't think any human could possibly have. He closed the book and moved closer to where he was standing. Something seemed off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it just yet. As he walked towards Chan he could see a thin boy with orange hair standing right next to the cleric, pretending to be interested in some fruit. As Changbin got near them he could see the boy reaching into Chan's pocket. It was so subtle that Changbin wouldn't have seen it if he wasn't such a paranoid bitch (that comes with the heritage). He wouldn't let his new friend get robbed only the day after he saved his life.

 

* * *

 

To say that Jisung was surprised when he felt the knife pressed to his back was an understatement. He had never been caught before, and he definitely hadn’t been planning on getting caught today

 

He couldn't even see who was pressing the knife to his back, but he could feel it press harder as the other person whispered "give my friend back his stuff. right. now"

Jisung complied and slipped his hand out of the guy’s pocket, who still hadn't noticed what was happening 

 

"there's no need to be so mean"

 

This alerted the silver-haired man who he assumed was friends with the knife pressed to his back. Jisung smiled sweetly and waved at him as he raised his eyebrow and looked behind him.

"Changbin? what are you doing? who is that?" he motioned to Jisung who wiggled a bit to show he acknowledged Chan's acknowledgment. It was worth it, even though the boy, changbin, tightened the hand on his shoulder in warning. At least he had stopped pressing the knife to Jisung’s back. 

 

the name ‘Changbin’ did seem familiar to Jisung, though he just couldn't place where he had heard it. He’d figure it out later, though it wasn't important now.

 

"He's a thief. He was trying to steal from you" the boy behind him growled

"Oh," he turned to Jisung and looked him up and down "you could have just asked for money though, you didn't need to steal from me.”

Jisung could feel Changbin's exasperation from where he stood.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that," he answered "anyway, I think it's time for me to go; bye boys!" he elbowed Changbin hard, knocking him to the ground. He tried to push Chan out of the way but he had armor on so Jisung couldn't quite get him to move and ended up locked in a back hug instead, somehow got turned around during the small struggle.

 

"Oh, no, you don't, we're not done here," Chan said, locking his arms in place.

 

Jisung looked down at Changbin and stuck his tongue out while Chan began to rant about stealing. Jisung tuned him out and watched Changbin who was wiping the dust off his clothes and picking up the stuff he dropped when he fell. In his peripheral vision, he spotted a book that caught his eye. 

 

"-and that's why you shouldn't-"

 

"Not to be rude," Jisung interrupted Chan's lecture, "but why do you have a book written in a language you definitely do not know?" He blinked down at Changbin, whose tail had started to twitch in nervousness.

 

"Uh, um, that's," he snatched the book up, hiding it from Jisung's view "that's none of your business"

 

"Oh? but you see, if you are who I think you are then you definitely cannot read  thieves cant ," he had finally remembered why that name was so familiar, so he continued confidently 

 

"But I can" he wiggled his arms out of Chans grasp and made grabby motions towards the tiefling.

 

Changbin felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. On one hand, this kid couldn't be trusted and on the other, he knew what his book said and was willing to translate.

 

"Why should I trust you? You just tried to steal from my friend, why should I let you even go near something valuable to me?" he couldn't tell if he was asking the boy or himself.

 

The boy just rolled his eyes "I'm not gonna steal your stupid book."

 

"Then why do you want to help me?"

 

He let out an exasperated sigh "Have you seen this town? It's boring as heck. But this drama you guys got going on? That's interesting."

 

Changbin considered that for a moment. It was true - the town was awfully boring, especially if one had spent their whole life there like this kid probably had. It also helped that Chan was still holding onto the boy. He finally relented and slowly placed the book into the kid's hands, but he never took his eyes off of him, even when he started flipping through the pages, humming every few seconds.

 

Chan spoke for the first time since jisung had interrupted him "What does it say?"

 

Changbin felt bad for him, he hadn't exactly told him about this and he was probably super confused.

 

"Huh? Oh, it’s like a log book that some thieves use to write down safe houses and stashes if they can't take their treasures with them all the time. There are also some descriptions of the locations and how important each stash is by the value of the items in it. Whoever did this was very organized and definitely put a lot of work into it. 

 

"What's the most valuable stash house?" Chan said. It's strange how often Chan thought along the same wavelength as Changbin.

 

Jisung grinned evilly, pointing to one that was on a page all its own "definitely this one. It has like 20 important symbols plastered around it."

 

Changbin snatched the book out of the elf boy’s hand "ok, well, thank you for your help. Chan, let him go, we should get going."

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute; first, you need to pay me, second, I'm coming with you," he crossed his arms like that was final.

Changbin had other ideas.

 

"You absolutely are not! You just tried to steal from my friend! Why should we trust you?"

 

Jisung raised his eyebrow at the tiefling  "You need someone to translate the book and there's probably gonna be more thieves cant whenever you get to the place so you need me," he smiled smugly

 

Changbin wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face but before he got the chance Chan muttered: "He's right, binnie."

"Yeah binnie, your friend....?" 

"Chan." 

"Your friend Chan agrees with me."

Jisung beamed at changbin, who had turned bright red and was trying to contract his head into his neck. Jisung knew he had won.

 

"F-fine! We'll take the thief" 

"Jisung." 

"whatever, let's just go get the supplies we need and be off" and with that changbin stomped off towards the general store, without looking to check if the others had followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thieves cant: a language made by thieves for thieves (both fictional and real life!) used to communicate certain things between individuals such as easy thieving spots and storefronts that sell less than legal items if you know what keywords to look for. mostly in the form of graffiti or carvings but can also show up as symbols or coded phrases in text though that's really up to the group or individual using the language so its always evolving and maybe even area specific  
> ~~~~~~~~
> 
> uwu hello! i hope you all like this chapter tbh this is when it kinda starts picking up and getting longer (im like three chapter ahead oof)


	4. oh my

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jisung is actually the whole towns adopted child and you cant convince me otherwise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kind of a filler and set up chapter :)

Chan was still dazed with what had just happened. It's not every day you almost get robbed blind and then invite the would-be robber to join your party. He hoped he wouldn't have to take in any more kids.

 

The general store was a brick building a little ways away from the town square, with plants crawling up the side and spilling out of the pots in the open window. It looked warm and inviting in Chan’s eyes.

 

Changbin was already looking around the shelves when Chan and Jisung entered. The lady at the front who had been eyeing Changbin suspiciously perked up when she saw them enter.

She rushed past Chan and picked up Jisung in a hug to spin him around

 

“Jisungie!” she exclaimed, putting him back down “How are you? Are you eating well?”

 

“Yes ma’am,” he saluted her “Actually, my friends and I here were just getting some supplies for a trip.” 

 

She looked back at them as if she hadn't even noticed they were still there.

Chan waved but Changbin didn't even look up to acknowledge her

 

“Ah well let's see,” she puttered back behind the front desk “what can I get you today?”

  
  
  
  


While Chan was listing off things he needed Changbin was in his own world. He hated going into shops almost as much as shop owners hated him. As soon as he entered the shop, he ran to the far corner of the room to ‘inspect’ a shelf of cleaning supplies. Changbin wished he could walk into shops normally but society just… wouldn’t accept his kind. Being half- fiend really put a damper on his social life. He was so busy panicking that he almost didn't notice when Chan and Jisung arrived. Those two might actually be the death of him. Surprisingly neither of them seemed to mind him being half fiend. He’d only known Chan for half a day, but he knew he could trust his judgment and Jisung… didn’t freak out when he discovered who Changbin was so he’ll give him that, at least, though he still wasn't sure if he could trust him yet. 

 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Chan yelling “Hey, Changbin do you need anything?”

 

He thought for a moment before slowly making his way to the front counter.

 

He looked over at Jisung who was clutching a book. Many people could learn simple spells through reading without dedicating their full time to the practice, so maybe that was what Jisung was trying to do. He’d ask him about it later. 

 

“do you sell crossbow bolts?” The shop owner narrowed her eyes at him but nonetheless started to rummage around behind the counter, before she came back up with a box.

 

“That’ll be one gold piece.” 

 

He didn't blame her for being suspicious of him, there weren't many people who were not. 

 

Before Changbin could even pull out his wallet Chan said 

 

“Add it to my stuff.”

 

“Will, that be all?”

 

“Yes.” He smiled warmly at the shop lady

 

Changbin zoned out, still in shock over Chan's actions. He didn’t come back to until Jisung was linking his arm with his own and pulling away.

 

“Stay out of trouble, Jisung” the shopkeep yelled after them.

“I always do, Maria!” He winked at Changbin and unhooked their arms to slide next to Chan, who was leading them out of the city to start their adventure. 

  
  
  


By the time they got to the next town, the sun was low in the peach sky and they had agreed to stay at the inn for the night. The day's travel had definitely been… interesting to say the least, but that was mostly on Jisung’s part. He had put it upon himself to at least get to know the people who he was traveling with.

 

Although Chan had had more experience with traveling, Jisung found that Changbin was quite a lot more interesting, as evident in his million of questions about the older boy even as they were entering the city of Blackbourne.

 

Somewhere along the way, Changbins familiar joined them along the way in all its pitch black glory. The “cat” had climbed up to perch on Changbin’s shoulder as if he had been there all along; but of course, this picked Jisung’s curiosity, which is how they ended up in this particular conversation.

 

“So if you're a warlock… who do you have a pact with? Oh, is it a faerie! Those are really cool!”

 

“...I don't wanna talk about it.” Changbin crossed his arms and pouted.

 

“Awww, why not? I think it’s really cool that you can do magic like that!” Jisung’s permanent childlike grin was slowly cracking Changbin’s shell.

 

“ …my dad,  Changbin whispered loud enough to hear.

 

“I'm sorry, what?” Chan gasped, finally joining the conversation.

 

Changbin rolled his eyes “I know you heard that…it kinda wasn't really my choice, he knows I hate him, but he also knows I won't break our pact.“

 

“Ok, so let me get this straight,” Jisung started “You made a pact with your father, who is a fiend, to become a warlock, but you hate him? Why’d you do it then?”

 

“...I wanted to be a warlock. I had gone out adventuring to maybe find some entity I could make a pact with. I don't know why or how he found me, fiends don't usually come around for their kids; I was very desperate at the time to become a warlock so I foolishly made a deal and now I regret it. The end.” He hoped his tone conveyed how done he was with this topic but Jisung just wouldn’t let it go.

 

“Is there any way to end your pact?” 

 

“Not without losing my warlock powers,” Changbin said solemnly.  

 

Changbin thought that didn't stop Jisung from thinking about it but at least he stopped talking.

 

They had finally reached the inn they'd be staying at (the first inn they saw). The sign outside had the words  _ The Blackbourne Inn _ in a very lovely font. It was a very tall building, with lavish interiors, and they were all very surprised at how affordable it was to stay there; looking at the building they had thought they'd have to go find somewhere cheaper to stay.

 

“This city is the first to start being industrialized you know,” Chan said as they sat down in the conjoined tavern next to a large clock. 

 

Electricity was very rare on this continent and found only in the richest and biggest of cities. While this one may not have been the biggest, it definitely was one of the richest and it showed in every detail from the curtains on the windows to the floor beneath them.

 

Changbin hated it all. Well, maybe he didn’t  _ hate _ it, but he definitely didn’t feel that welcome either, so he pulled his hood low and sunk down in his chair. The spot they had sat in was fairly close to the part near where a dark elf on the lute was performing. Even Changbin appreciated how sweet his voice was, but Jisung looked mesmerized. If he could describe his face at that moment, he was sure that Jisung had stars in his eyes.

 

Jisung’s eyes never left the musician even as they ate their food and even late into the night when the man started packing up to leave.

 

To say that they were surprised when Jisung lept up when the man started to walk away was an understatement, even Jisung was surprised at his own actions. They watched in confusion as Jisung spoke a few words towards the man flashing him his brightest smile. He seemingly agreed to whatever Jisung asked him and they both started walking towards their table.

  
_ Oh boy, more people _ thought Changbin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fiend: any malicious otherworldly creatures within the Dungeons & Dragons universe. These include various races of demons and devils that are of an evil alignment and hail from the Lower Planes. (d&d Wikipedia)  
> ~~~~~~~~~~  
> follow me on tumblr @honeyboyhyunjin (or @spookyboyfelix for the month of October ;) i love talking about my fics and knowing what you guys think of it <3  
> thank you to everyone whos read it so far i hope yall enjoyed this chapter °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°  
> i think this is the first chapter with a character that isnt in skiz so thats great she reminds me of every cuban grandma ever she probably gives jisung food for free every sunday


	5. the fake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho, by all accounts, was an idiot.

Minho didn't think this was how his night would be going. Usually, he would perform in a new town for maybe a week and then move on, quietly and hardly noticed by anyone. It had been going great for a few months now. No one bothering him like they used to. No one to nag him about his responsibilities to the kingdom. Sure, sometimes he wished he had somebody to keep him entertained, but the quiet was better than being stuck in that immense dark castle every day. Today was no exception to that routine, or at least it hadn't been until the personification of the Sun himself had asked him to come drink with him and his friends. He had just stopped performing for the night, was almost out the door too; curse this cute elf and his bright smile.  

 

His friends weren't as enthusiastic about Minho's arrival but he couldn't really blame them. He knew they wouldn’t push him away either, dark elves weren't exactly welcome everywhere but they weren't as hated as tieflings. They simply looked like people who had their guards up, which he could relate to. It was really an odd trio, one wouldn't expect to meet a cleric traveling with a tiefling and- well the last one wasn't actually that weird, or not that Minho could tell. He was very interested in their stories, maybe they’d be great inspiration, he might even write a song about it. It was hard to think though, with the ginger elf clinging to his arm the whole time like a big, cute, sunshiny leech. He decided that if he was going to sit here he might as well have some fun

 

“So what are you guys doing in town?” He gestured to the three of them

  
  
  


“We’re just passing through, on our way to Asteria.” Chan, the cleric, answered him. 

 

That was... more general than he had hoped for but Minho wasn't going to give up now.

 

“Oh? I hear Asteria is wonderful this time of year. What are you planning on doing there?” he smiled sweetly at Jisung, knowing he was most likely to slip information.

The elf in question bounced in his seat. “We’re going there to find treasure.”

 

Changbin glared at the boy but made no move to stop him.

 

“What kind of treasure are you going for? It sounds like a fun adventure.”

 

“We don't really know-”

 

“That's none of your business,” Changbin cut Jisung off.

 

Minho only raised an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of his drink.  _ That was an interesting response indeed. _ He’ll just, keep that info for now and leave that conversation for later.

 

Minho liked to think he had great intuition. He noticed Chan had been very quiet during this particular topic. That meant that this adventure was maybe not his; maybe Jisung and Changbin had roped him in to heal them or he had some other purpose, one Minho intended to find out

 

“What about you, Chan, you don't seem like the kind of person who’d be in this for the riches, so why are you on this little quest?”

 

Jisung and Changbin stopped their mini staring context to rejoin the conversation.

 

“Yeah? Why are you here?” Changbin asked, tilting his head in question.

 

“Wait, you mean you don't know? Aren't you guys like… friends? Jisung shouted accusingly at Changbin.

 

“We’ve only known each other for two days.” All attention was back on Chan as he continued, “I'm going on a quest for, you know, my god and all that.” He rolled his eyes at that, as if he were annoyed about his godly mission.

 

“Ah, I should've guessed that with you being a cleric and all...” Changbin said somewhat bitterly.

 

Unlike his companion, Jisung perked back up, “Oooh what’s your mission then? Fight the undead! Kill monsters!”

 

Chan gave an embarrassed smile. 

 

“Hmm... I don't really know,” he whispered

 

All sounds at the table stopped. You could hear a pin drop as they all just blinked at Chan.

 

“How? How do you not know what mission your god sent you on?” Minho asked, flabbergasted.

 

He couldn't understand why someone would follow empty orders and not know the reason behind them, or even what they were supposed to do.

 

“I was just instructed to go to Asteria and await further instructions, Milil is cryptic like that.” Chan’s cheeks were becoming redder by the second.

 

_ Ah, that explains it, _ Minho thought. He had learned about Milil in school, of course, Milil was good but didn't often intervene in small things, so whatever Chan’s mission was, it must have been of utmost importance; he was a popular god amongst hermits and bards. This group just kept getting more and more interesting by the second.

 

“Well, that's enough about us, tell us about you, Minho,” Jisung said excitedly, turning his blinding smile back towards him and maybe saving Chan from future embarrassment. 

 

Minho suddenly felt like he needed to impress Jisung. He’d just met him but the way the boy was smiling expectedly up at him made his brain feel fuzzy.

 

“Hmm, oh, uh, w-what do you wanna know?” he laughed nervously, brain still shutting down.

 

“Hmmm,” Jisung thought for a moment “You play music - have you always been playing music or did you just learn?”

 

“Ah, no it's just a small hobby I picked up, I'm not even that good.” Was that technically a lie? Maybe so. He had always been interested in music but he was never allowed to participate in anything, much less learn an instrument.

 

“What! No, you're super good! Maybe even the best I've ever heard.”

 

Jisung’s praise made Minho feel like he was floating.

 

“Thank you,” he whispered, ears flushed

 

“So what's your class then,” jisung said over Minho’s thanks

 

What happened next could only be explained by pure panic and confusion.

 

“Warlock!” 

 

Even Minho was surprised at himself, but Jisung just carried on with glee.

 

“Oh, you're a warlock! Changbin's a warlock too!”

 

Minho, by all accounts, was an idiot.

 

Changbin eyed the other ‘warlock’ wearily. “If you're a warlock then why are you playing music in a tavern?”

 

“The adventuring life just isn't for me.” Minho folded his hands on his lap, trying not to fidget nervously at the way the tiefling was glaring at him, and smiled at the tiefling, almost daring him to say something. He hoped he could keep up this charade long enough to book the hell out of town.

 

Minho knew that the tiefling could tell he was lying - he just hoped that this would all be over with sooner rather than later. Maybe Changbin would be merciful and give him a swift death.

 

The younger boy opened his mouth, maybe to tell his friends of Minho's lie, when Jisung, who had been staring at Minho with stars in his eyes, started talking a mile a minute.

 

“Aw, that's a shame, it's really fun! Maybe you can come with us for a bit! Just till the next town? To maybe see what adventuring is like? You can play music for us and keep us entertained! And maybe you'll make more money-”

 

Minho really wanted to say no to the boy. It'd be really hard to keep his secret if he went with them, but the look on his face and the compliments to his musical talent made him very soft, and he felt he couldn’t really say no to those puppy eyes.

 

He looked over at Changbin's stupid smirking face and gulped. This was going to be complicated, to say the least. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bard- In the worlds of D&D, words and music are not just vibrations of air, but vocalizations with power all their own. The bard is a master of song, speech, and the magic they contain. Bards say that the multiverse was spoken into existence, that the words of the gods gave it shape, and that echoes of these primordial Words of Creation still resound throughout the cosmos. The music of bards is an attempt to snatch and harness those echoes, subtly woven into their spells and powers.  
> warlock-A warlock is defined by a pact with an otherworldly being. Sometimes the relationship between warlock and patron is like that of a cleric and a deity, though the beings that serve as patrons for warlocks are not gods. A warlock might lead a cult dedicated to a demon prince, an archdevil, or an utterly alien entity—beings not typically served by clerics. More often, though, the arrangement is similar to that between a master and an apprentice. The warlock learns and grows in power, at the cost of occasional services performed on the patron’s behalf.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> (＾▽＾) i hope you all like this chapter i meant to update it earlier today but as some of you may know im a bit dizzy right now rip me if i die from unknown causes id like minnie and ana to continue this story and they have full permission to hack my google docs notes to fulfill my last wishes i think i actually have a plot for it now so thats good.  
> tell me if you dont understand anything or need a word i used defined. im really trying not to make this hard to read but things that i find obvious may not be obvious to other people. im glad that youve all like it so far i hope its meeting your expectations


	6. minho is very complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan actually does his job and other surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think im going to slow down updates to just once a week so i dont get backed up in writing hope yall dont mind too much

After Minho had finally agreed to go with the trio, mostly due to Jisung’s whining and begging and refusing to let go of Minho until he agreed (though he wasn't really complaining), they had finally parted ways to get some much-needed adventuring rest. Minho was hoping to quietly retire to his room to plan his tragic fake death and move to another continent in hopes they'd never find him, when Chan had stopped him in the hall, outside his room.

The others weren't in sight so Minho was very confused as to why Chan had stopped him of all people.

Minho was less surprised that Chan could see through his lie, and more so at the fact that Chan was willing to not expose him. Of course, Chan expected Minho himself to tell Jisung the truth. Minho would not have been surprised if Chan had told him that Changbin and him were telepathic in some way, at this point, with the way the two of them could tell he was lying so quickly; he wished they could let Jisung into their little hive mind, too, so he wouldn't have to tell him the truth. He admired Chan for wanting to protect the oblivious wood elf, they just had different ways to go about it.

He was also glad that Chan wasn't upset with him for lying, because if Minho were to be completely honest Chan intimidated the fuck out of him, coming in here all holy and righteous looking. Right then, in that hallway though, Chan kind of looked like a tired dad of two very weird stray cats and now, apparently, Minho, too.

It was safe to say that Minho spent the entire night restlessly awaiting the next morning.

  
  
  


Jisung wanted to be mad at Minho. He really couldn't though, he understood why he had lied to him. The townspeople had always said that Jisung could be a little too pushy and it spooked some people sometimes. So no, he couldn't really be mad, but he was annoyed. He decided to leave his spot around the corner before Chan and Minho could finish their conversation, couldn’t have everyone knowing that he knew about the lie, he wanted to hear it from Minho himself before he fully forgave him. He might even let Changbin in on it to spice things up a bit. He just wanted some innocent revenge for being lied to, why not make it fun. Plus, Minho was pretty cute and interesting, Jisung couldn't keep being annoyed at him forever, especially since he had convinced him to come with them on their journey in the first place.

 

Once Jisung was safe in his room, he pulled out the book he had bought in Dragonmoor. He refused to be the only one on this team who didn't know at least a little bit of magic, so he had gotten a book of illusions to start studying. If anything, they could be very useful when getting pocket change. 

He was so entranced in his spells, he almost missed Changbin’s weird cat crawling out from under his bed. He probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if it hadn't started making small chirping noises at him from where it was sitting on the nightstand.

 

“What are you doing here, go back to Changbin.” 

 

The cat just continued to stare at him with its weird, soulless eyes.

 

Something about Gyu had always felt really off to Jisung. He guessed it was because familiars were a bit different than regular pets. For one, Gyu was pitch black, it looked like he absorbed all the light around him, in everything but its eyes, which were glowing pure white with only a slit for a pupil. Needless to say, it made Jisung highly uncomfortable when those glowing eyes were trained on him.

 

“Did Changbin send you here to watch over me?” Jisung didn't know much about warlocks in general but he knew that some could communicate with their familiars in a way - though he did feel funny, talking to a cat.

 

“ _ Mrrrp, _ ” Gyu answered

 

“Was that a yes?  _ Mrrrp _ for yes and  _ mew _ for no, ok?”

 

“ _ Mrrrp _ ,” he answered again

 

“Mmmm, ok, that's sneaky, I like that; can he hear me right now?” 

 

“ _ Mrrrp. _ ” 

 

The light inside Jisungs head went off

 

“Oh, good. I have a plan.”

  
  


“Can your father see through your cat?”

 

“Mmmmm, I never really thought about that.” 

 

They were on the road again, and Jisung was back on his unrelenting journey to know everything about everyone (but especially Changbin).

 

“Wait wait, backtrack, what about your father?” Minho had actually shown up, which was a surprise considering what Jisung had told Changbin, through Gyu, last night.

 

“Well he’s a fiend, and warlocks make pacts with fiends, sometimes. But you knew about that, right? Being a warlock and all.” He wasn’t going to lie, he felt really smug that he was right about Minho.

 

“Uh, yes, but my warlock pact is with a fae, so I don't really know that much about fiends.” Minho looked mildly nervous and that was all the revenge Changbin needed for now.

 

Changbin just barely caught Chan smirking from the front where he was manning the map, probably planning their path through Blackroot forest which should be coming up along their path. Changbin got the feeling that Chan always knew what was happening at all times, it was almost like he could read minds. Maybe he just had naturally good perception, but it seemed like saw everything that was going on at all times, and it gave Changbin the chills.

They were quite the team. With a cleric, a warlock, a rogue and… whatever Minho was, cause it sure as hell wasn't a warlock, they could do a whole lot in a fight, as far as diversity of combat methods went (although Minho didn't seem to be armed with anything but a wooden flute). The Blackroot forest was known for its tall trees and occasional bandit raids and kidnappings, so he was kind of glad he had gone along with Chan, in the end, or this trip might have taken forever to complete on his own, since he would have had to go around the entire forest to arrive safely.

 

“Hey, by the way, Jisung, what was that book you were reading?” Changbin remembered what he had wanted to ask a while ago.

 

“None of your business,” Jisung answered, crossing his arms and looking away like a petulant child.

 

“Oh? So you can ask me everything about my life, but I can't ask you a simple question? And here I was thinking we were finally becoming friends,” Changbin said, only semi-sarcastically.

 

“Ugh, fine.” Jisung rolled his eyes “If you really wanna know.” 

 

He pulled out a leather bound book from his pack and handed it to Changbin, who read the title out loud. 

 

“ _ Ozerick’s book of minor illusions.” _ the tiefling took a second to process that. “Why would you need a wizard's spellbook? That seems very out of character for you.”

 

Jisung snatched the book out of his hands “Well, the rest of you can do magic. The least I could do is learn some, too, even if it’s just distraction magic.” He held the book close to his chest like he was protecting it from Changbin’s questions.

 

“Ok, ok, that's fair.” The warlock held his hands up in surrender, while Jisung glared at him out of the corner of his eye, though there was no malice in it.

 

The sun was high in the sky as they walked through a valley dotted with colorful trees. The cool breeze contrasted with the hot sun and Changbin was suddenly worried that he should have brought a heavier cloak with him, as it was getting slightly cooler by the day. The trees around them were getting more and more dense with each passing minute, which meant they were nearing Blackroot forest, which did not put his worries to rest.

They were just going over a hill when Chan, who was still in the front, suddenly stopped and squinted towards a particular tree a ways away.

 

“What is it, Chan?” Changbin asked walking up to stand next to him and look in the direction he was.

 

“There is something under that tree,” Chan said, taking tentative steps towards the aforementioned tree.

 

Changbin looked more closely. The tree was small, but it stood out among the rest of those in the area due to being the only one adorned in soft pink flowers. Just underneath the tree, Changbin could see a dark, long shape covered in those same pink petals. Changbin looked to Jisung and Minho, who were giving each other questioning looks, before he ran to catch up with the cleric.

 

Chan was five feet away from from the tree when Changbin finally caught up to him. He could now see the figure under the tree very clearly. The shape, or rather the boy, under the tree, was tall, his eyes were closed, arms crossed over his chest with a staff in his hands, like he was prepared for his funeral. Chan suddenly sprinted towards the boy to check his pulse, and seemingly found one, as he started to shake him softly to try and wake him up. As Changbin knelt opposite to Chan he noticed the boy had jewels weaved into his hair across his forehead and jewelry dripping from his long pointed ears. Chan had given up on shaking him and started taking out his cleric tools to heal whatever had rendered the boy unconscious.

 

Minho and Jisung finally made it to the spot under the tree as the boy's eyes fluttered open and he tried to sit up, groaning in pain. Changbin almost didn't notice Minho's eyes widening as he took a step behind Jisung while Chan was pushing the boy back down into the grass. Almost.

 

“Calm down kid, you must have taken quite the hit to the head, so take it slow for a bit, yeah? Can you tell me what happened? Anything you remember before passing out?” Chan said calmly, helping the boy lean against the base of the tree.

 

“My name is Hyunjin, I was sitting here meditating for a bit on my journey when a couple of bandits tried to rob me. One of them must have snuck up behind me and knocked me out, but I still have all of my stuff so I don't know how I- oh.” He stopped mid-rant to touch the flowers that had fallen off of him when he had woken up. “I think the dryads may have taken protection over me.” 

 

The elf turned around to take a full bow towards the tree, whispering words that Changbin could not understand under his breath, sitting up when a full pink flower fell off of the tree onto his hands.

 

The boy, Hyunjin, suddenly stood up bowed slightly towards Chan.

 

“Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated. Let me give you compensation for your kind actions,” he said smoothly, already reaching into his bag, likely going for his money pouch.

 

“There's no need for that, it's the least I could do really,” Chan chuckled, “I thought you were dead there for a few seconds.”

 

“Ah, well, I’ll be taking my leave now. Thank you again.” Hyunjin bowed once more to Chan and Changbin and turned around to bow to Minho and Jisung too, but froze, staring at them for a second - before taking Minho by the collar of his shirt and punching him straight in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> arcane trickster-  
> dryad-  
> so yea im only going to update on fridays now because chapters are getting longer and relationships are getting more difficult so it take more time for me to write  
> dont forget to follow me on tumblr @spookyboyfelix (which i might be changing after halloween anyway so just ask me for my url) i really love it when you guys send me asks and stuff about my fic it makes my tiny baby heart soar  
> this is kind of a filler chapter to help slow things down i hope you guys like it uwu


	7. too many questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hyunjins mad, minho be going through it and chan is still a father of some sad ass stray cats with a new addition

Chan liked to think he was a very perceptive person, but even he couldn't have possibly thought that this was where this meeting would be going. It was like the minute Hyunjin connected his fist with Minho’s face, the world started to go in slow motion, he only half noticed that Minho had a nosebleed when Hyunjin started rapid-fire shouting what Chan could only assume were insults, in elvish. Minho, for the most part, stared at his bloodstained hand with a look of remorse on his face. Jisung, who had been pushed away from Minho in the fight and could undoubtedly understand Hyunjin’s rant, stood in shock, his mouth taking an ‘o’ shape and eyes wide, bouncing between Minho and Hyunjin like he was watching a sports game.

Hyunjin, seemingly trying to get Minho's attention, grabbed the collar of his shirt again, which finally broke Chan out of his trance. 

“Not to interrupt this… thing? That's going on here, and I'm sure Minho did whatever you said he did but I can't let you punch him again, or Jisung will probably be very mad.” The cleric placed his hand on the boy's arm until he dropped it to his side. “Good. Now let's work this out like civilized people.”

This seemed to wake Minho up as well. 

“I didn't do anything!” the dark elf yelled he huffed and crossed his arms in front of him.

Before Hyunjin or Chan could have the chance to speak, Jisung butted in 

“I don't know, Minho, it kinda sounds suspicious.” The wood elf had his arms crossed as well and was looking accusingly towards Minho.

Minho looked highly offended but chose not to say anything, as it might have further incriminated him.

Chan’s head hurt, he regretted not taking elvish in school or this would have been a lot easier. At least Changbin looked just as confused as he did.

Chan ran his down his face and turned to Hyunjin. “What exactly did he do to you? In common if you don't mind.”

“Ok well, let’s start at the beginning then,” the elf began.

 

Minho closed his eyes “First of all, I'm upset that you'd think I’d do anything at all,” he opened his eyes looking Hyunjin dead in the eyes. “I-I'm sorry that I had to leave without you but I just… couldn’t stay there any longer, they're up to something, Hyunjin, I just don't know what,” he was practically pleading Hyunjin to understand.

“Oh? Were they trying to marry you off again?” Hyunjin smirked playfully.

“Hey! This is serious,” Minho hit Hyunjin’s arm “There were these people in dark robes with big red runes outlined in white and they scared the shit out of me, I ran so fast out of there I might as well have teleported.”

“Maybe they were there for your warlock rituals,” Hyunjin was still laughing but it was a bit strained, as if he were worried, but didn't want to show it so much.

“That's what I thought too so I ra-” 

“What did the symbols on the hooded figures look like?” Changbin interrupted next to Chan, though he hadn't even noticed Changbin standing next to him.

Minho looked shocked for a moment “It’s hard to explain…”

“Can you draw it for me?” Changbin pushed.

Minho nodded, taking out some writing tools, and sketched out a rough sketch of the symbols while the rest sat dejectedly in the grass.

When he was done he handed it to Changbin “Do you recognize it?”

Changbin stared at it for a good minute, confusion washing over his features. “Kinda? It feels familiar, but nothing I can remember specifically looking like this.” 

Chan got the sense that wasn’t the whole truth as the tiefling stored the drawing inside his journal. 

Hyunjin jumped up and dusted himself off. “Well this was all fun, but I have to get going now if I want to make it to Asteria before midnight.”

“Oh, really? we’re on our way to Asteria as well; maybe you’d like to us to keep you company?” Chan smiled brightly up at the boy while the rest of them also started to stand from where they had sat while Minho was drawing.

Hyunjin started to protest when Minho interrupted him. 

“It's pointless to try to make it in time now. It'd be better if you didn't go through the forest alone, especially since you're covered in jewels, you royal prick.” He crossed his arms like there was no room for argument and there really wasn't, especially with the way they had found him and the sun so low in the sky already.

Hyunjin closed his mouth and glared at Minho, but there was no more hatred in his eyes so he took that as forgiveness and started to walk back towards the path with his friend looking only slightly exasperated, but mostly glad to be reunited with his friend and leaving Chan, Changbin, and Jisung very confused.

“So… Is no one gonna talk about how Minho is a prince?” Changbin said, snapping the other two out of their shocked state.

“Oh… oh!” 

Chan didn't think he could possibly see Jisung be more shocked as he started walking dazedly towards Minho and Hyunjin; Chan and Changbin gave each other a knowing look before following them as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> common- in dnd different races speak different languages which can get quite confusing when you cant speak a certain language (for example, hyunjin was speaking elvish and minho and jisung are also elves and therefore can understand him but chan is a human and cant speak elvish) so to do things like trade and conduct business most people also speak common which is the fantasy equivalent of english (or whatever language you play dnd in)  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~  
> i hope you all like this chapter (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ i really like that hyunjin just like fucking exposes minho (and everyone else if he know them) also we love dumbasses with no plan


	8. falling...falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jisung is salty, hyunjin is a nerd, and men rain from the sky

They had decided to rest in a clearing for the night - it had been a very tiring day, especially for Hyunjin, who got hit over the head, and Chan, who used all his energy healing said head injury along with a few other ones. To say things were a bit awkward might have been an understatement; Hyunjin and Minho, although reconciled, were obviously still not back to friend status and conversation between them was stilted at best; besides that, Jisung was no longer on speaking terms with Minho having ignored him any time the other tried to make conversation until Minho had solemnly wandered off back towards Hyunjin who awkwardly patted his back. It wasn't that Jisung hated Minho now, he was just confused. He didn't know what to think really, which was why he was laying down in the grass not far off from their camp, replaying the day's earlier events in his head after everyone had gone to sleep. Well, almost everyone.

Technically, elves don't sleep. They rest with their eyes closed but are fully aware of everything around them as long as they can hear, so Jisung was very surprised when he only heard the footsteps when they were right next to his head and he looked up into Chan's eyes looking down at him questioningly. Chan was not an elf so Jisung just chalked it up to a bad dream for a few seconds before he realized that this couldn't be a dream because he never went to sleep, his eyes widening in surprise, making Chan laugh. 

“Why aren't you asleep?” Chan questioned, sitting down next to Jisung.

“I should be asking you that, human,” Jisung retorted, not really knowing how to answer that question just yet.

Chan paused, considering what he should do next. 

“Had a bad dream…” he said quietly, trailing off like he wanted to say more.

“Ah is god calling again? How convenient for him, he doesn't even have to wait for the mail to get to you.” Jisung wasn't really in the mood for talking.

“Yeah well… it gets a bit annoying after a while,” ignoring Jisungs bad mood “Your turn; why are you up?”

“I-” should he lie? Probably not, Chan could probably see right through him in seconds. “I was just thinking, a lot happened today”

“Ah so this is about Minho then?” There went Chan’s uncanny ability to know what everyone is thinking about.

“I-it’s not- its just-” Jisung stuttered.

“No, it’s ok, you have every right to be mad at him,” Chan interrupted Jisung’s incoherent talking, “He lied to all of us, but I'm sure he had his reasons.”

Jisung just raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ok, well, let's put it this way,” Chan reasoned, “If you were a prince on the run, would you tell everyone you meet?”

“I- ok I see your point,” he felt silly for being upset with Minho, “I won't ignore him anymore.”

“Good, now go get some rest.” 

Chan helped Jisung up, telling him he was just going to stay awake for a little bit longer, just to keep watch, so Jisung waved him goodbye and collapsed into the tent he was sharing with Changbin. 

 

When Changbin woke up his arm was practically being ripped off by Jisung (who hadn't been there when he'd gone to sleep). He had to pry Jisung’s fingers off his arm, which unfortunately woke him up. He left Jisung to check that everyone else was awake; He found them making plans for the path they were going to take through the forest (which was much simpler now that they had Hyunjin with them). Soon enough Jisung was joining them, still wiping the sleep from his eyes as they set out to pack everything and get back on the road again.  
\------------------

Things seemed to be a bit better than the previous day; Minho and Hyunjin were still a bit awkward around each other, but that was to be expected. Surprisingly, Jisung was no longer ignoring Minho, which released some of the tension in Changbin’s shoulders because as much as he was annoying, he was less annoying when he could go bother Minho instead of him.

Hyunjin was an interesting addition to their group; he was pretty, most definitely royalty, though neither him nor Minho acted like that made them better than the rest of the group, he even talked informally but with great struggle, like he was trying to unlearn how to be a prince and had still not gotten the hang of it yet. He also dealt with Jisung very well, despite the boy being loud and touchy and asking him numerous questions that Changbin probably should have paid attention to the answers to, and for that he was very grateful (grateful to have Jisung off his back for once). 

They had decided to rest for a little bit before the heat of midday killed them all, which would be the lamest way to die in history. They sat on the surprisingly warm ground on a big patch of black moss that the forest was named for, according to Hyunjin. They had seen the moss a few other times but it was more abundant in the deeper parts of the forest, like the place where they had decided to rest. 

“So you're a druid, Hyunjin?” Chan questioned him after his tirade about the forest life was over.

“Yes! I'm luckier than Minho since I actually wanted to do what my parents choose for me… well, mostly.”

“Right… Minho's a warlock?” Chan looked almost amused as he asked Hyunjin, finally trying to get the truth out there.

Hyunjin just let out a laugh that shook his whole body.

“Hey! That's not funny!” Minho shouted indignantly

Hyunjin wiped the tears from his eyes jokingly “Minho? Actually doing what his parents wanted him too? How badly did he all lie to you guys, oh my gods.” He fell down in a fit of laughter again.

Minho hit him on the arm in an attempt to get him to stop.

“Aw, really Minho? We can't believe you've been lying to us this whole time,” Changbin playfully jabbed at him

Hyunjin had finally calmed down enough to speak again “Minho hasn't truly done a warlock ritual in what? Three years? He’d much rather sit in his room all day and practice the flute instead of trying to summon some entity to make a pact with,” he laughed again “He couldn't even tell his parents he wanted to be a bar-”

Hyunjin never got to finish his sentence as a figure soared through the trees, landing directly on top of him.

\----------  
It's not every day that someone falls out of the trees and lands on one of your party companions, so it’s only fair that when it does happen, no one really knows exactly what they’re supposed to do.

Luckily, Hyunjin’s groaning woke up Chan from his daze. 

“Did-did you just fall out of that tree?” 

Was that really all Jisung could say at this moment, Changbin thought

The blonde stranger opened his eyes and sat up, looking around and then down at what he was sitting on.

“His ass is on my chest, why does it matter where he came from!” Hyunjin screamed, obviously in pain.

The blonde quickly rolled off of his perch on Hyunjins chest to lie on the floor next to him as Chan rushed to Hyunjin, probably to heal him.

“Shh, Hyunjin calm down, I need to heal you. Changbin, help the other guy up and ask him questions.” 

Changbin didn't know when he had become Chan’s nurse, but he obliged anyway.

Changbin looked at the boy in front of him suspiciously, assessing if he was an actual threat or not. 

“Are you ok? Do you need healing?” Changbin asked, kneeling down next to him cautiously, in case he decided to attack.

The blonde slowly cracked his eyes open, and Changbin noticed he was cradling his wrist, which looked a tad swollen but probably not broken, but then again what did Changbin know. 

Ignoring Changbin, the kid pushed himself up with his uninjured arm to a kneeling position.

“-Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, I didn't know you were there,” he started, and then turned to Changbin “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you guys?”

Changbin almost flinched when the elf turned to him… almost; it was just that his eyes were very intense, and his voice didn't match his youthful look at all.

He hadn’t realized he had been staring until the blonde was waving his uninjured hand in front of his face.

“Hi? Where are we?” he asked.

He shook his head and said “The middle of blackroot forest? Why did you fall from the sky? Where did you come from?”

“Oh, I was stuck in a bandit stronghold so I catapulted myself out. Oh, shit, that reminds me I need to get back over there to help my friend!” He started to walk off but Changbin grabbed his arm before he could disappear, which made him flinch slightly.

“Wait, wait, so you just escaped a bandit stronghold… and you want to go back? At least let us heal you before you run off to find your friend.” Changbin didn’t think that would work, but the boy nodded and sat down, waiting for Chan to finish healing Hyunjin.

Changbin caved and sat next to the blonde, who had gone back to cradling his arm, and they sat there for several minutes of awkward silence before he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What’s your name kid?”

The blonde looked him straight in the eye.

“Felix.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its raining men,,,,,hallelujah its raining men (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))  
> so felix like,,,,,did that lmao, i hope you guys are liking the pacing i dont know if im doing things too fast or too slow but i hope it comes out just fine. we've almost met all the members so thats good then i can start developing them as a group and actually idk get the story going.   
> this is the last chapter i have pre-written so we'll see how updates are from here on out i hope i can be consistent :(


	9. ok so heres the plan, and other stupid ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when one plan fails...obviously let felix make another one, itll probably work this time....hopefully

Falling from the sky was not as fun as Felix had planned.

 

All he had needed to do was sneak past the watchtower, get in the catapult, break it using magic, use feather fall to have a nice, stable landing and then go get help. The plan would have worked fine, but he didn't account for how hard it would be to cast spells midflight. 

 

The catapult took him far too, just not exactly the trajectory he wanted, but at least he was a good distance away from the base and surprisingly not dead - although he was surrounded by strangers, one of which he injured, and he had a broken wrist so he didn't know how well he was faring, but they haven't killed him yet, so the odds were looking good.

 

The human, Chan, had just finished healing his injured party member when the first cat arrived. The cats followed Felix everywhere, any cat that was near his vicinity would come and sit by him like they were his fluffy bodyguards, and he was still not sure why but accepted it anyway. Changbin, who had refused to leave his side while they waited for Felix to be healed, raised his eyebrow when he noticed the first one arrive and opened his mouth to say something, when a pitch black long haired cat materialized on his shoulder with a small  _ pop,  _ causing him to sputter. The inky cat jumped into Felix’s lap unbothered, curling up and purring away as Chan kneeled in front of Felix to heal his wrist.

 

“I'm assuming this is your cat?” Felix asked, startling a shell-shocked Changbin. 

 

“Y-yeah. Its name is Gyu, it doesn't usually like anyone…” he furrowed his eyebrows at Felix, looking almost worried.

 

Felix didn't know how to respond to that so, he nodded and quietly let himself be healed by Chan.

 

“So…” Chan put his hand on Felix’s shoulder “Felix, is it?” He glanced at Changbin who took this as his queue to leave. “What were you saying about bandits?”

 

Hyunjin, who was sat dejectedly in the grass near them, sat up, his interest peaked

 

“Yeah, the bandits who took me and my friend; I couldn't get both of us out of there but I told him I’d be back with help,” Felix rambled.

 

Chan turned to Hyunjin, who sat to full attention.

 

“You think it’s the same bandits who knocked you out?”

 

Hyunjin nodded looking suddenly very serious.

 

Chan smiled down at Felix.

 

“Still want that help?”

\-----------

 

It's not that Hyunjin didn't like Felix, you couldn't really dislike someone you didn't know, it's just that he didn't trust him.

 

how can a person trust someone who fell out of the sky on top of them and is followed around by a small army of cats, you probably wouldn't trust them either.

 

They were currently crouching near the edge of the forest; Chan and Felix mapping out an attack plan, Changbin watching the bandit stronghold intently, Minho and Jisung whispering out whatever their problems were a little ways away, and Hyunjin, keeping guard.

 

“-well then, we need someone to distract the guards over by the fire and then someone to take care of the guard at the raised post,” Chan said.

 

Felix considered this for a moment, looking at the map they had made of the encampment.

 

“ All we need is someone to put out the fire so they can't see.”

 

“I can do it” Hyunjin let out an exasperated sigh. 

 

Felix’s face lit up.

 

“Great, so you and Chan will climb the little ridge at the back of the encampment and cast your spells,” he waved vaguely towards the camp “Then at Minho’s signal Changbin will take care of the tower guard and Jisung and I will go to the cells and release my friend, easy as cake!”

 

Hyunjin didn't want to call it a win yet, though, they'd still have to wait till dark and so many things could go wrong

 

The sun was low in the sky and they'd all agreed to rest a bit before they set the plan in motion; Minho and Jisung were still working out their problems. Hyunjin sent them a wink, which only Jisung caught, making him stutter slightly but continue to talk to Minho. He walked past Changbin and Chan, who were resting up since they had to regain some of their powers, especially Chan who had healed not one, but two people that day. Hyunjin caught Felix's eye, who waved him over to come sit with him; the druid reluctantly obliged with a huff. 

 

Felix was sitting against a tree a little ways away from where the others were doing their things, rubbing down Changbin’s cat - or at least Hyunjin thought that thing was a cat - smiling softly.

 

He must have sensed that Hyunjin was hesitating, because he looked back up from cuddling Gyu to beam up at Hyunjin.

 

“It’s ok, Hyunjin, Gyu doesn't bite,” he said brightly, motioning to Gyu who was upside down purring loudly in front of him

 

Hyunjin wrinkled his nose “I'm allergic,” he said dryly

 

Felix’s laugh was much higher than his voice was.

 

“Well, then it's a good thing Gyu isn't a real cat then,” he chuckled.

 

Hyunjin squinted at Gyu who was rubbing his head on his knee with apprehension.

 

“He’s a warlock familiar. I’d say his actual form is probably an imp or a pseudodragon, but he can really be whatever he wants. In this case, he’s a cat,” Felix looked down at the inky black familiar, “...though he's not very good at looking like one.”

 

Hyunjin was amazed that Felix wasn't awkward at all around any of them; even him, who was trained from birth to talk to people, didn't feel completely comfortable when talking to people he had just met.

 

Hyunjin opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by Felix’s suddenly serious voice.

 

“I know that you don't trust me,” he said quietly “and I won't ask you to either, we did just meet after all, but I do truly need your help to rescue my friend, as soon as we're done with that we’ll leave your group alone, ok?”

 

Hyunjin could only nod in shock as Felix got up to wake the others.

 

And with the last bits of sunlight disappearing in the sky-

 

Their plan set into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i cant believe were on 9 already thats so wild lmao  
> thank you guys for reading this far like i never expected anyone to actually read it  
> special s/o to my beta minnie @gaylids on tumblr who i knows been having a lot to do in school recently and still betaed this chapter for me on their only free day  
> follow me on tumblr @ honeyboylixxie for rants and maybe some spoilers about this au (or you know just stray kids stuff i guess)


	10. step out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the plan goes good...until it doesnt but thats not their fault!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> instead of definitions, I'm putting the spells used in this chapter at the end

_ Kids were too hard to understand _

 

Chan and Hyunjin were skirting the left side of the encampment, slowly making their way to the back.

 

Chan just couldn't understand how he had unknowingly collected so many kids on his very short trip to Asteria; especially with their newest add-on’s. 

 

He looked at Hyunjin, who was slightly ahead of him; he seemed to be doing better than earlier that day (Chan assumed that having someone body-slam into you from the sky could sour anyone's mood) but still even when they had woken Changbin and him up from their naps Hyunjin and Felix seemed to be on slightly better terms - or just Hyunjin, because Felix didn't seem the type to ever get mad at anyone. He was glad at least that he wouldn't have to go breaking up their fights (hopefully) now they just seemed… awkward with each other and Chan hoped they'd fix that on their own too.

 

They were getting closer to the left side of the encampment now, Chan could see the outline of the tall outer wall even in the dark, the bright glow of the bonfire they were supposed to put out behind it highlighting the edges. They had reached the point where the wall of the camp reached the rising cliff behind it, it ran all along the back wall of the encampment so they could focus guarding only one side instead of worrying about being attacked on all sides.

 

They needed a way to get over the 20-foot wall so Hyunjin could cast his spell without the bandits seeing them or this would all go to hell pretty quickly.

 

While Chan was wrecking his brain looking for a solution, he didn't even notice Hyunjin walking to the vine-covered back wall to inspect it.

 

“Hey, Chan?” Hyunjin whispered gaining Chan’s attention.

 

He pointed up at the vines that crawled all the way to a little ledge in the rock face that overlooked the camp.

 

Chan wished he couldn't understand exactly what Hyunjin was thinking of.

 

\------

 

Only a druid would think to climb twenty feet up vines in the dark.

 

Chan silently cursed Hyunjin, but he would admit that they were at a really good position for spell casting; he could see about ten bandits surrounding the fire, luckily not facing the wall they were perched on. 

 

Truly Chan was only here to make sure everything went as planned (or as an extra hand in case everything went wrong) so he pretty much sat back and watched Hyunjin work his magic.

 

Hyunjin held out his hands, quietly whispering under his breath, focusing his energy, until slowly a small raincloud started forming just over the encampment. The bandits barely had time to look up before the rain was pounding down on them efficiently putting out the small bonfire, leaving them blind.

Chan and Hyunjin quietly celebrated, their part of the mission done. 

 

They silently made their way down from the ridge and out into the safety of the dense forest to the meeting point they had agreed upon, knowing that Changbin and Minho had gotten their queue.

 

**_Phase one complete_ **

  
  
  
  


Waiting in the dark with Minho was awkward and boring, to say the least. They had hardly interacted in the time Minho had been traveling with them and Changbin didn't really know how to talk to him so he left him to perform his magic on his own.

 

While Minho's part was to discern when the fire is off, Changbin’s was to get rid of the guard on top of the watchtower. 

 

The watchtower in question was really nothing special; just a shabby wooden structure that rose about the same height as the outer wall of the compound with one guard posted on top to oversee the prisoners and make sure no one gets over this side of the wall. It's a miracle that Felix managed to escape _and_ make it to the catapult so he figured that maybe whatever guard they have up there may not be so good. 

 

_ Felix… Felix was an interesting one  _ Changbin thought as he took out the components needed to cast his spell. He’d only known Felix for maybe a day but the boy had certainly made an entrance into their lives; despite that he was nice, charming even, everyone, sans Hyunjin, seemed to warm up to him very quickly. Even Gyu, who was known to steer away from all people unless instructed, liked him. He kinda wished he could see them get along; they seemed like they’d make a great team...

 

He finally found the last component right as Minho snapped his eyes open from his trance. They nodded towards each other and Changbin got to work on his half of the plan. 

 

Changbin concentrated, putting all of his energy into his next words and zeroing in on his target.

 

“Walk to the next town over and turn yourself in for theft,” he commanded the guard, his voice pitching lower than usual and eyes faintly glowing.

 

The guard stilled for a second then started to slowly, quietly climb down his perch, disappearing from view until he walked right out of the front gaits of the camp and into the forest.

 

Both Changbin and Minho let out relieved breaths.

 

“Are you gonna go tell them we’re done or should I?” he asked Minho.

 

“No, it’s fine, I got it, you go back to the meeting point, we’ll see you in a bit,” Minho replied already running off toward where Jisung and Felix were hiding out.

 

Changbin sighed, making his own way back to the meeting point.

 

_ Good luck Felix… and Jisung. _

 

**_Phase two complete_ **

  
  
  
  
  


Waiting around in the dark was boring and Jisung wasn't a very patient person to begin with. 

 

Jisung slid down the rock he was laying on to look at Felix upside down. Felix just looked at him unimpressed.

 

“Felix.” 

 

“Mmmh?” he answered.

 

“What's taking them so long,” Jisung dragged out the last word to convey just how bored he was.

 

Felix just laughed at him and flicked his forehead.

 

“Stop whining; they have to get over that huge wall, it takes time Ji.”

 

“Fine, fine,” he slipped further down the rock “...what’s your friend like?”

 

Felix quietly laughed again covering his mouth.

 

“Well, first, his name is Woojin and I've only known him from our short time inside the bandit camp so I don't know too much about him,” he paused to think a bit “he sings really well, but not at bard level yet, and he’s very nice… oh! And he’s a-”

 

Whatever Felix was going to say was cut off by a rustling nearby that made them both immediately stand up in a fighting stance.

 

“Stand down losers.” 

 

Jisung felt more than relieved when Minho came into view stepping out from behind a tree.

 

“What are you waiting for, idiot, go do your part of the plan” Minho shoved Jisung playfully.

 

“Are you gonna go to the checkpoint?”

 

“Nah, it’s fine I’ll wait for you here… as back up,” he smiled, but Jisung knew that he was staying more out of worry than distrust of them because he kept fidgeting and biting his nails even as they started to walk away.

 

He tried not to think too much about their talk earlier that day, he needed to stay focused.

 

Jisung stuck his tongue out as they passed by the confused bandits surrounding the now unlit bonfire (that they hadn't noticed go out until Minho went to get them).   
  


They weaved through a maze of crates and metal cages until Jisung crashed into Felix, who had stopped in front of a particular cage.

 

“Woojin?” Felix whispered quietly.

 

There was some shuffling from inside the cage and then a soft voice.

 

“Felix? You're back so soon, I’d thought it’d at least take a day more,” the voice, presumably Woojin, joked.

 

“I found help!” Felix excitedly whispered.

 

Jisung poked his head out from behind Felix and waved at the stranger. He was sitting with his back against the rails on the cage with a hood covering his head; they probably woke him up from a rest.

 

Felix stepped out of Jisungs way so the rogue could get to work on the locks and soon enough the door was swinging open with a squeak.

 

Woojin stepped out of his imprisonment and out onto the dusty floor. Jisung could hardly get a good look at him before Felix enveloped his friend in a tight hug (though with his hood up he doubts he would have seen anything good anyway). The force of the hug knocked the two back a bit, but thankfully neither of them fell, so Jisung just watched this sweet scene play out in front of him with only a little longing.

 

Jisung heard a shout to his left and peaked out from a row of boxes to see the bandits had: 1. Started a new fire (magic or non-magic, he could not tell)

  1. Realized that a perfect 30-foot circle of rain is not normal and started to look for the culprit.



 

Luckily they had started their search by the supplies tent, but that only gave them a little extra time to get out the front door without a scratch.

 

“Uh, not to break up this beautiful scene, but I think it’s time to go” Jisung’s voice cracked at the end causing Felix to raise his eyebrow at him.

 

“We. Need. To go.” Jisung said more urgently

 

That finally snapped them out of their post-reunion euphoria and they all weaved their way back out the maze of cages.

 

Woojin, who was in front, checked to make sure the bandits were still preoccupied with searching before motioning for them to move forward towards the open slope that served as an entrance to the camp.

 

Jisung had just snuck past and turned to help Felix who was in the back when he heard a shout.

 

“Hey! You there! Come back here!”

 

Jisung barely registered anything after that, besides grabbing Felix and bolting towards the forest (though Woojin would later tell him that they both narrowly avoided a spell shot at them).

 

He only stopped because he ran head first into a solid object, causing Felix to crash into his back as he was still being dragged and sending them both tumbling with whatever they had bumped into.

 

“Ugh, please get off of me.”

 

Jisung hardly recognized Minho’s voice beneath him before Woojin pulled all three of them up and pushed them to run, Jisung’s face only slightly burned, but he figured that wasn't what was important at that moment.

 

They ran for what felt like hours until they could no longer hear the bandits looking for them.

 

Jisung sighed as he collapsed against a tree. Getting themselves lost in the forest in the dead of night was not how he had envisioned this escape plan going.

 

“Don't beat yourself up too much, Sungie, this honestly could have gone a lot worse for us,” Minho said, putting his arm around Jisung’s shoulders.

 

Jisung only raised his eyebrows at him.

 

“Don't look at me like that!” he poked Jisungs cheek “We could be dead in a ditch somewhere or captured by bandit,  this is not the worst we could have done.”

 

“I guess you're right,” he rolled his eyes “We might still die though if we don't find Chan soon,” he added.

 

“Yeah, he’ll cuddle you to death for causing him stress,” Felix joked.

 

“Jokes aside, we should really rest right now; we can continue searching for the rest of your group in the morning when it's not so cold,” Woojin suggested, pulling his cloak closer to himself as a chilly breeze swept past them.

 

“Sounds good. I'll take the first watch,” Minho said, leaving no room for argument. 

 

Woojin and Felix nodded and went to find a warmer place to sleep a little bit away but Jisung never moved.

 

“Minho,” Jisung dragged out the last syllable “I don't wanna sleep, it’s cold!” He dramatically threw himself in Minho's lap.

 

Minho just chuckled and ruffled his hair

 

“Fine, but it's on you if you’re tired tomorrow” he poked Jisung in the stomach, making him wiggle around, groaning. 

 

Jisung knew Minho was right, but it was warm right there and he refused to move and subject himself to the cold wind, so he just pouted and curled up right where he was, in Minho's lap.

 

Minho laughed, but didn't try to move him, so he’ll count it as a win.

 

Jisung drifted off thinking about how warm he was.

 

**_Phase three complete_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spells used:   
> Create Water   
> You create up to 10 gallons of clean water within range in an open container. Alternatively, the water falls as rain in a 30-foot cube within range, extinguishing exposed flames in the area. 
> 
> detect thoughts  
> You initially learn the surface thoughts of the creature—what is most on its mind in that moment. As an action, you can either shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts or attempt to probe deeper into the same creature’s mind. 
> 
> suggest  
> You suggest a course of activity (limited to a sentence or two) and magically influence a creature you can see within range that can hear and understand you. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this effect. The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable. Asking the creature to stab itself, throw itself onto a spear, immolate itself, or do some other obviously harmful act ends the spell.
> 
>  
> 
> \---------  
> hey guys sorry for the long wait for this chapter! as some of you know from my Tumblr (@honeyboylixxie) its been a rough couple of weeks but im feeling a little better now so i worked my ass off to write this chapter for yall and i hope i can get back into the swing of things after this lmao.  
> i wanted to say that im so so proud of stray kids and i never imagined to be so active in any fandom as i am with this one (though ive come close with other fandoms ) and im so happy that you all have supported me through my longest story ever I can't wait until the groups all assembled and i can finally reveal an actual fucking plot.  
> yall have any guesses on what woojins class and race are? ╭〻◕`w´◕〻╮


	11. the tiered city

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fucking f i n a l l y were here :)

“What.the.fuck,” Changbin whispered harshly as Chan sat down happily next to him.

 

Ok, Hyunjin will admit, he doesn't do well under pressure but even he could see that casting charm person on Chan to get him to calm down might have been a little rash; So when the rest of the group never met up with them in the clearing they'd designated as their meeting point after about 2 hours and Chan began to go into full meltdown mode, you can't really blame Hyunjin for panicking.

 

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he was just getting so agitated I thought he might do something to get us all killed; let's just chill and figure out what's going on before we storm their base looking for blood, ok?”

 

Changbin seemed to weigh his options before shrugging and sitting next to a giggly Chan who immediately attacked him with hugs.

 

“Ok, well I snuck over to the base to take a look, which wasn't easy by the way; they seemed to be on high alert,” Changbin paused prying Chan off of him so he wouldn't be knocked over “whatever happened while we were gone got the bandits spooked but the others weren't in the area or at the camp so we can only assume they're somewhere else.”

 

Hyunjin nodded but something was itching at the back of his mind.

 

“You don't think Felix...had something to do with this do you?” he questioned.

 

“He could have…” Changbin hummed thoughtfully “but I don't think so, they weren't anywhere near there anymore, plus Chan is a hound dog for evil he would have felt if Felix was secretly plotting our deaths.”

 

Hyunjin watched as Chan successfully knocked Changbin over earning a grunt from the tiefling. 

 

_ He has a point  _ Hyunjin thought, he probably shouldn't be so quick to blame without any proof.

 

“Fine but if he sacrifices them and brings about the end of the world I'm blaming you” Hyunjin joked.

 

“Seems fair” Changbin grunted from under Chan.

 

“Channie,” Hyunjin sweetly called his attention “go to bed”.

 

Chan nodded sleepily before getting up off of changbin and moving over to the bedrolls, passing out cold in a matter of minutes.

 

“You should do that to him every day so he gets more sleep,” Changbin said almost too seriously.

 

“We should head to bed too, we’ll look for them in the morning,” Hyunjin said helping Changbin stand before also moving to the sleeping mats.

 

He watched Changbin curl up into a ball and drift off before finally closing his eyes, his last thoughts being about how mad Chan was going to be in the morning.

  
  
  
  


The sun was beaming right into Minho's closed eyes but for some reason he couldn't shift away from the stupid blinding sunlight - which was weird and also probably not good. He slowly opened his eyes to look down at Jisung, who had fallen asleep in his lap last night and suddenly the crick in his neck and numb legs also made sense (although how could he have forgotten such vital information).

 

The sun was just coming up high into the sky, softly filtering through the trees. They must have been near the edge of the forest since the trees weren't as dense causing more light to spill into the area. Minho leaned his head back, running his fingers through Jisung’s hair; the rest of their party could wait a few more minutes.

 

The rest of his party had other ideas.

 

Minho was just barely nodding back off when Felix came skipping over to them, Woojin in tow; he knew this was too good to be true, and he didn't hesitate to glare at the freckled boy when he plopped down in front of them.

 

Minho glanced at Woojin as Felix started to ramble about something random. Something about Woojin just felt... off. He was still wearing a big dark hood that covered the upper part of his face so only his nose and mouth showed, they looked fairly human but sometimes his nose would twitch in a way that human’s definitely didn't. 

 

Jisung shifted in his lap shaking him from his thoughts and he hoped that he hadn't been caught staring, whatever Woojin was wasn't really any of Minho's business anyway. The elf in his lap rubbed his face sleepily and let out a yawn, suddenly freezing when he felt all eyes on him.

“Did I miss something important?” Jisung asked still barely awake.

 

“No, it's ok, we all just got up as well,” Woojin chuckled amusedly.

 

Jisung’s eyes widened and Minho had noticed it too; when Woojin laughed the top of his hood had twitched, just a very slight, sharp jerk at the top.

 

Minho's soul left his body as soon as Jisung opened his mouth.

 

“Hey, Woojin what was th-” Minho slapped his hand over Jisungs mouth before he could finish but he was just a second too late.

 

Woojin and Felix looked at each other, almost as if they were having a conversation though neither of them was speaking any words, before Woojin looked as though he had made up his mind. 

 

Shrugging, he pulled off his hood to reveal his face; he was mostly human, from what Minho could tell, but his eyes were sharper and the early morning sun made his pupils turn to slits and his teeth were a tiny bit sharper, but the biggest difference was the big fuzzy cat ears that sat on top of his head twitching nervously waiting for their reaction.

 

Minho let out the breath he was holding “oh good I was worried you were like a mind flayer or something, whew.”

 

Minho couldn't say that he hadn't been curious but he really didn't know what he had been expecting, definitely not a half- tabaxi.

 

Minho tried to wrack his brain for information on tabaxis but nothing was really standing out to him besides that they didn't usually ever interact with people, choosing to stay in their little corner of the world, which really just made Woojin weirder, but weird wasn't always bad.

 

Jisung hadn't said anything yet though, just continued to stare at Woojin with childlike wonder in his eyes before slowly reaching out to poke at one of Woojin’s ears. Woojin only watched him curiously so Minho assumed he didn't have to reprimand him for being unintentionally rude.

 

“Ok, now that that's over with,” Felix clapped his hands together “what’s the plan?”

 

“Well, they don't really know where we are…” Minho looked around trying to figure out where  _ exactly _ they were.

 

“If you have a way we could send them a message we can just tell them where to meet us, we’re really close to Asteria anyway” Woojin suggested.

 

Minho studied the cats that always seemed to congregate near Felix trying to find a way to send that message, suddenly he had an idea.

 

“If I theoretically could get them a message telling them where we were...where would we tell them to go?” Minho questioned

 

“...Asteria would be easier than in the middle of a forest” Woojin raised an eyebrow at him. 

 

“Great!” Minho exclaimed turning to Felix “can I borrow one of your cats?”

  
  
  
  
  


Hyunjin was a heavy sleeper.

 

Luckily for Hyunjin, Changbin had been the first one to wake, making sure that Hyunjin didn’t die by Chan's hand in his sleep.

 

Unluckily for Hyunjin, Changbin was a little trickster and woke him up by making his ears pop.

 

As soon as Hyunjin woke up Chan was there, staring at him with his disappointed father face, demanding an explanation from him; he could even hear Changbin giggling off to the side and he just wanted to curl into a ball and go back to sleep.

 

But he knew that he couldn’t, they were still missing half their group and they could be anywhere so he let out a deep breath to face Chan's wrath.

 

“I- I'm sorry,” Hyunjin pouted, putting on his best puppy eyes “I was scared you were gonna storm the bandit camp and get yourself killed, they weren't even there anyway.”

 

Chan looked at Changbin, who nodded to confirm.

 

Chan let out a deep sigh.

 

“Ok- but don't do it again or else” Chan tried to sound menacing but there was no real bite to it.

 

“So where do you think they went?” Changbin asked once they had all eaten and packed.

 

“They really could have gone anywhere, this forest is pretty-” Chan yelped before he could finish when a fluffy white cat started kneading at his leg

 

Hyunjin and Changbin made eye contact, obviously both thinking the same thing;  _ Felix _ .

 

As soon as Hyunjin was eye level with it though Minho's voice started spilling out:

 

_ ‘I'm gonna start this off saying we’re fine. All of us. We ended up more south than we intended so we’re really already close to Asteria so our plan is to just meet you there. Have a boring trip without our fun asses~ Minho’ _

 

When the message finished the cat started purring and trying to rub up on Hyunjin, causing him to sneeze.

 

“Well,” Changbin said picking up the fluffy white cat assaulting Hyunjin “that makes our lives so much easier”.

 

“...yeah I guess it does,” Chan paused “to Asteria we go, I guess”.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“JISUNG GET OFF OF ME!” Minho screamed trying to throw Jisung off his back but failed miserably, throwing off his balance, sending them both tumbling to the floor.

 

Woojin chuckled as he helped the miffed dark elf off the ground.

 

“You know,” Woojin turned to Jisung “we’re almost there right? You don't need to be carried.”

 

Whatever little composure Felix had been holding on to when the duo fell left him as Jisung pouted.

 

“But I wanna be carried” Jisung complained smacking Felix for laughing at him.

 

Woojin rolled his eyes fondly. 

 

“Minho’s just as tired as you are he can't carry you,” the half tabaxi laughed “but if you _ really  _ needed to be carried I guess _ I _ could.”

 

Jisung let out a loud whoop, not even hesitating to jump on Woodin's back finally letting them continue on their way.

 

They had been traveling for almost half the day, the sun sitting high in the sky now which meant it was getting tricker to keep going but they wanted to make it to Asterias city gates as soon as possible so they'd powered on.

 

“Hey, Felix?” 

 

Woojin couldn't see Jisung but he knew that he was stretching his neck to look up at Felix over his shoulder.

 

“Yeah, Jisung?” the other wood elf replied boredly.

 

“We’ve known you for two days and we still don't know what you do,” Jisung said bluntly “or why the cats follow you everywhere”. 

 

Woojin glanced at the cat perching on Felix’s shoulder; even he didn't know the reason and he had known Felix the longest.

 

“Well first, I'm a wizard; that's why I'm going to Asteria, they have the best collection of books there apparently.”

 

That Woojin did know; they had both separately been going to the city when they were captured by the bandits.

 

“And the cats... I honestly don't really know? I saved a cat once from death but I don't think it garners this kind of reaction.” Felix absentmindedly scratched the tabby cat on his shoulder.

 

“That is really weird,” Minho said pensively.

 

“What about you Woojin?” Jisung said quickly sensing the awkward air around the subject.

 

“I'm a paladin of Lliira, goddess of joy,” Woojin said proudly straightening his back a bit, despite still carrying Jisung.

 

“Whoa, that's really cool!” Jisung tried to jump up but he was still on Woojin’s back causing them both to stumble for a second.

 

“Yeah you and Chan will get along great he's a church-man too” Minho joked. 

 

Woojin raised his eyebrow at him.

 

“Oh yeah, that's right!” Jisung practically yelled in his ear “you and Channie can bond over boring church stuff.”

 

“If you say so,” Woojin said apprehensively. He wanted to trust Jisung and Minho but he was always nervous meeting new people, never knowing how they'd react to him. It helped that Felix was nodding along with them; Felix he knew for sure he could trust.

 

Woojin could smell Asteria before he could see it, the smell of the sea and of market food. As soon as they could see the sparkling front gates Jisung hopped off his back and started skipping towards them hooking his arm with Minho’s, pulling him along.

 

Honestly, Woojin never understood why the city needed gates, the city was built on the drop off of a cliff, each section carefully carved out until they reached the sea.

 

At this point the smell of food was intoxicating, inside the gates they could hardly see over the edge of the first tier because it was filled with every color and size stall you could imagine; Woojin almost forgot that they had things to do, almost.

 

“Hey, where should we-” Woojin turned to only to see Jisung and Minho disappearing into the crowd.

 

“Felix what are we gonna do-” but he couldn't even see Felix, probably also having disappeared into the crowd; Woojin let out a sigh

- _ this is gonna be a long day _ -

 

\------

 

Woojin figured looking for them was pointless; if they wanted to find him they will eventually. Looking around the market he figured he’d at least get some supplies while he was here anyway.

 

Luckily there were so many people no one was paying attention to the half-tabaxi milling around the food vendors and merchants, occasionally stopping to ask about an item. Woojin’s first stop was a fried chicken food stall, this city had the best though it was not for him. He went to a few other places to pick up what he needed and it didn't take that long to get it all. Seeing as how the others still hadn't come looking for him he figured he still had a bit more time to just look around, Asteria wasn't the biggest city in Nortsylver for nothing.

 

Woojin walked among the beautiful candy-colored shops and stalls until he got to a slightly quieter part of the market. Something in his chest was pulling him towards a lemon yellow shop. 

 

As he walked closer to the shop he could see that it was a jewelry shop, rings and necklaces glittering in the shop's window like lights; there were still quite a few people walking around the area and he could see a couple walking in the shop as well. Although Woojin had never really been interested in jewelry before he couldn't ignore the feeling that he  _ needed _ to be in that shop. He sent a small prayer to Lliira for guidance before walking into Glow jewelry shop.

 

The inside of the shop wasn’t too spectacular (except maybe the actual jewelry inside of it) with small, locked, display cases scattered about and up against the walls with every single type of jewelry you could imagine. There were a couple of other people roaming around the store as well and it made Woojin feel a little self-conscious so he adjusted his hood and turned towards the first display case he could find. 

 

Huddled up to the display he could read the plaque which read:  _ earings of whispering  _ in neat loopy cursive. It was one of the few items in the shop that wasn't in a sealed glass and instead was in an ornate box with a set of about 10 matching earrings in it.

 

‘ _ Maybe I could finally stop losing the kids now’  _ Woojin laughed at his own thought reaching to inspect the little earrings but instead bumping his hand into someone else's who was also reaching for the case.

 

“Sorry, I was just looking at it go ahead,” Woojin said quickly, maybe Lliira wasn't on his side today.

 

“No it's ok,” the man chuckled “I was also only going to look at it.”

 

Woojin inspected the man curiously; he had messy blonde hair falling into his face and tired but kind eyes.

 

“My name’s Chan,” he leaned down to try to catch Woojin’s eye from under his hood, holding out his hand “what’s yours?”

 

“My name’s Wooji-”

 

“WOOJIN!”

 

Both Chan and Woojin jumped hearing the yell almost eco across the small jewelry shop.

 

Chan peaked out from behind Woojin “Felix?”

 

“Chan!”

 

“Felix stop-”

 

“Woojin!” Felix tackled him into a big hug.

 

“Ah so that's Woojin,” he heard Chan giggle and move away from them to who knows where because he was still being crushed by Felix. By the time he was let out of his grasp Chan had already come back to them slipping something into his bag.

 

“We should go find the others before it gets dark,” he smiled kindly at Woojin before leading them out of the shop and into one of the lower tiers where the inns were.

  
  
  


The wind rushed past their ears, whipping their hair into their eyes. He tightened his grip on his friend's wrist, weaving them through the crowded streets and back alleyways hoping that they’d finally lose the stall owner chasing after them. Ironically they hadn't even done anything this time around, or at least nothing he had noticed. Unfortunately, the man's shouts were sounding louder by the second. They took an alley that looked like it went around a building but stopped halfway through the back.

 

They were trapped.

 

He could hear the man get closer and he hoped that he’d pass them by but he should've assumed they wouldn't be so lucky - they never were.

 

Seungmin fell into a fighting stance as the half-elven man rounded the corner with troubled breathes from chasing them halfway across the second tier.

 

“Give me back what you stole!” the man bellowed.

 

“We didn't do anything leave us alone!” Seungmin yelled back.

 

“I saw your little friend here steal something of mine!” 

 

He tried to grab at Jeongin but before he could two boys rounded the corner.

 

“Hey what the fuck are you doing,” the shorter one said in a graveled voice and suddenly the stall owner was enveloped in strong weeds and vines. 

 

“Come on, quick, let's go,” the taller one whispered as they whisked Jeongin and Seungmin out of the alley and down the road into the night.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT HAS BEEN A HOT MINUTE YALL  
> i checked the time stamp of the last update.....6 months....sorry to leave yall hangin that long i refuse to leave this fic undone tho now im just writing out of spite even though no one cares anymore :/  
> i hope you guys like it ~ this chapter wasnt betaed like normal so like...call me out on my dumb bitch energy  
> oh and of course: follow me on tumblr @honeyboyfelix (yes it changes like every chapter; no i dont care)  
> edit: follow me on twitter too @honeyboyhyunjin !!!!!!  
> \--------------  
> tabaxi- ....literally just dnd cat people i usually envision them as more slender cats then the Skyrim cat people are (woojin is specifically modeled after the caracal)  
> \--------------  
> spells:  
> charm person-You attempt to charm a humanoid you can see within range.  
> It must make a Wisdom saving throw, and does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed by you until the spell ends or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it.The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance. When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.
> 
> entangled- Grasping weeds and vines sprout from the ground in a 20-foot square starting from a point within range. For the duration, these plants turn the ground in the area into difficult terrain.


	12. coming together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone finally meets!!!!

Jisung was entranced.

 

Minho caught the attention of every single patron in the small tavern with his beautiful music, more importantly though, the little ginger wood elf sat in front of him.

 

Jisung rested his head on the table listening to the light notes floating out from Minho's flute. He had known Minho’s music was magical from the first time he had heard him play, and he didn’t think he’d ever get over just how beautiful the drow looks in these moments; like he was born to make music. 

 

“Sungie, don't fall asleep on me now, at least wait ‘till the others get here,” Minho laughed. Jisung hadn't even noticed he was closing his eyes.

 

“Ah but it's so comfy here,” he pressed his cheek into the table wiggling around in his seat.

 

He loved watching the way Minho threw his head back in laughter when Jisung did something silly.

 

“Your music’s so pretty, I don't get why you won't tell anyone you’re a bard.”

 

“Ugh, it's embarrassing,” Minho’s rolled his eyes 

 

“Only if you're embarrassed by it,” Jisung winked at him “Seriously, though, like, magical music? In what world is that not cool as hell?”

 

Minho just pursed his lips and started to clean his flute.

 

Jisung looked around the small tavern. There wasn't much, probably because it was usually only reserved for inn guests. The yellow glow of oil lamps filled the room with a warm glow, the sun just starting to set. The bell signaling someone's arrival caught Jisung’s attention.

 

Felix beckoned Chan and Woojin into the door toward their table.

 

“Felix! I see you found the two for one deal,” Jisung wiggled his eyebrows at Chan and Woojin.

 

“Yeah, I got really lucky!” Felix looked around the group excitedly “Oh, wait where are Changbin and Hyunjin?”

 

“Where do you think?” Chan said rolling his eyes, “I lost them as soon as we entered the city.”

 

“Really?” Jisung said, “They were here a few hours ago, they accidentally bumped into us before they headed out again looking for you guys.”

 

“Yeah, we said we’d stay here ‘till they came back,” Minho added, not even looking up from his flute.

 

Felix frowned, moving towards the tavern door, probably to go looking for the two lost dorks, but Chan put his arm around his shoulders, pushing him into a chair.

 

“It’s getting dark, I'm sure they'll be back soon,” Chan said when Felix’s frown deepened. “Don't look at me like that! We can't have you getting lost, too.”

 

Felix finally conceded, settling into his chair next to Jisung.

 

“Oh now that there are more people here I can try out some of these spells,” Jisung said, gesturing to the book in front of him on the table.

 

“Wait how-” before Chan could finish Jisung screwed his face up in concentration, whispering words in Elvish under his breath.

 

Suddenly, the rest of the table was quiet. Jisung slowly opened his eyes to face his creation, a tiny squirrel sitting right in the middle of their table. Jisung nearly dropped the spell in his excitement.

 

Felix poked the squirrel, or where there seemed to be a squirrel, his hand going clean through the little image.

 

“Nice job, Sungie,” Minho whistled.

 

“That's a wizard spell, how’d you do that!” Felix seemed the most surprised out of the group.

 

Jisung finally dropped the spell before handing Felix the book he had been reading.

 

“Finally had some free time to read up on spells,”  the thief said shyly.

 

“What do you even need spells for? You're already enough of a menace as is,” laughed Chan.

 

“Gotta keep you on your toes, Channie,” he replied taking his spellbook back from Felix.

 

They didn't get much more free time, before long, Hyunjin and Changbin  stumbled into the tavern with two other people, panting heavily. 

 

Chan, of course, was the first to respond; running up to them and checking if they were injured.

 

“How did you manage!” Minho said exasperatedly.

 

Changbin and Hyunjin looked at each other than at the two newcomers 

 

“Long story,” they both said in unison. 

 

Chan pressed his hands to his temples and let out a sigh.

 

“Why don't you all sit down so you can explain,” Chan let an inviting smile slip on his face when talking to the two young boys that Changbin and Hyunjin had dragged in with them. 

 

The two boys sat down nervously and started from the beginning.

  
  
  
  


Jeongin picked at the scarf covering his mouth, wishing he could pull it down though he knew he couldn't; he wasn’t oblivious, he didn't have a death wish.

 

The little goblin was happy to let Seungmin explain what was happening; this story would have been way too long if he had done it.

"So we were just walking through the market when the man suddenly accused my friend here," Seungmin motioned to Jeongin who waved "of theft."

 

Jeongin nodded to himself.

 

He hadn't actually stolen anything this time but it seemed like he was getting blamed for more and more things he didn't do as they continued to travel.

 

"And that's when these two," Seungmin continued nodding his head to them in thanks, "Found us cornered in an alleyway."

The half-elf always seemed so composed on the outside, but Jeongin could feel his leg bouncing with nerves under the table. He supposed that Seungmin had reason to worry; they didn't know these people, and there were certainly more of them than there were of that shopkeeper, but Jeongin felt good about being here and not just because they saved his butt and gave him food.

 

 “Now that that’s over with,” the cleric said, “What happened at the bandit grounds, we never got a chance to ask?”

 

Jeongin perked up in his seat;  _ now this is the interesting stuff. _

 

“I don't think Felix is very good at being sneaky,” the ginger wood elf snickered “We were almost out when they saw us and we panicked and ran right into Minho.”

 

The drow- Minho? laughed.

 

“He knocked us both down more like it, if Woojin hadn’t been there we’d be dead.”

 

“I would deny that, but you're probably right.”

 

The freckled wood elf smacked Woojin’s - at least Jeongin thought it was Woojin’s - arm in protest.

 

Jeongin’s head was spinning trying to remember who everyone was.

 

“Well, the important part is that you’re all safe, right?” Chan chuckled, turning to Woojin. “Thank you for keeping Jisung out of trouble for me he's very important.”

 

“It was no problem,” Woojin shyly waved him off, “Thank you for saving me from the bandits.”

 

“Oh, yeah! I almost forgot about the notebook,” the ginger-haired wood elf cut in.

 

“How could you forget the whole reason we're here, doofus,” the purple  tiefling smacked him in the back of the head.

 

“I'm tired, a lot’s happened,” he pouted.

 

“Ah, it's getting late we should go to bed soon,” Chan paused to look at everyone sitting at the table. “We may be doing a bit of treasure hunting tomorrow if anyone would like to join us.”

 

There were several nods, and someone must have seen how conflicted Seungmin and Jeongin looked because their attention was being called across the table.

 

“Do you two have anywhere to stay?” Hyunjin asked concern lacing his voice.

 

In the few seconds where Seungmin was too surprised to respond, Jeongin knew he needed to say something; he felt a pull to this group and he needed to be a part of it.

 

“No, we don't actually,” he said simply as he and Seungmin got into a silent staring contest.

 

Seungmin rolled his eyes angrily but conceded.

 

“Uh, yeah, we just got into the city, same as you.” Jeongin could tell they were going to have a talk about this later, but he felt he had done his job.

 

Hyunjin opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out; Chan, seeing him struggle a bit decided to help him out.

 

“My invitation extends to you two as well.” He looked at Seungmin’s skeptic face and Jeongin’s hopeful one, “How about you stay here and decide if you want to come along tomorrow - how does that sound?”

 

Jeongin swiveled his hopeful face to his friend, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist his cute puppy eyes.

 

Letting out a big sigh, Seungmin agreed.

 

_ That always works _ , Jeongin thought smugly.

  
  
  
  


Chan didn't know why, but he felt like he needed the two to be there, too. Actually, he felt like he needed all nine of them to be there. He shook his head; this was not the time to be second-guessing his decisions.

 

Right now they were deciding how they would be rooming nine - or seven since Seungmin and Jeongin didn't seem like they could be separated right now - people without emptying their coin pouches.

 

“We… could always go in pairs? To save money?” Felix suggested hesitantly.

 

“Ok, but how do we decide pairs?” Hyunjin asked.

 

“How about we play boulder, parchment, shears,  and the last three left room together, ” Woojin offered.

 

After a couple of rounds, the pairs were decided with only a few complaints, mainly just Changbin whining about having to share a room with Jisung and Minho and surprisingly no complaints from Felix and Hyunjin. Chan hoped they’d worked their issues out. 

 

Which left Chan and Woojin rooming together.

 

They didn't talk much as they bid everyone goodnight and went up to the room they'd be sharing. 

 

Chan noticed that even though neither of them was speaking, the air didn't feel awkward. Woojin still had his hood up, only the bottom half of his tanned face showing, but he seemed more calm and comfortable than when Chan had met him earlier. 

 

The cleric was so ready to go to sleep, the last few days traveling to Asteria being tiring, as soon as the two had stepped into their room Chan started to take off his armor pieces. He only slowed his pace when he saw Woojin standing awkwardly fiddling with the clasp on his hood. Chan sent him what he hoped was a reassuring smile- he knew that some people in this world were more comfortable being hidden for whatever reason but he wanted Woojin to know that he didn't have to be afraid, of the cleric at least. (Chan didn't have conventional friends anyway.)

 

Chan slowly unlatched his breastplate, showing Woojin that he trusted him, and carefully placing next to the rest of his gear. Woojin, in turn, drew in a large breath and quickly removed his hood revealing fluffy light brown ears and averted his sharp cat-like eyes. The cleric only smiled at him sweetly; the moment reminding him of when hed met Changbin only a few days ago. After a while, the half-tabaxi looked far more comfortable as Chan wished him a good night and they both fell into a deep sleep.

 

\-------------------

 

_ White smoke surrounded Chan obscuring the chimes hanging from the trees around him though they still tinkled in the slight breeze. A nightingale flew towards him and the cleric held his hand up for it to land on. Milil’s voice range around him, echoing off the chimes and trees. _

 

_ “You've finally arrived in Asteria, all is going according to plan,” Chan wanted to ask what that meant; What he was supposed to find on the way to the city; What was going to happen now- his mouth stayed closed tight like it always did “tomorrow is a very important day, stay perceptive” _

 

_ The bird perched on his finger dissipated into golded light and the mist thickened, covering everything. _

 

Chan woke up panting, his eyes snapped open to reveal a worried face illuminated by the moonlight. The cleric blinked a couple of times before he was able to make out Woojin’s face peering at him from his bedside. Chan closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing.

 

“Don’t worry about it. go back to sleep,” he whispered trying to commit Milil’s words to memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spells:   
> silent image- You create the image of an object, a creature, or some other visible phenomenon that is no larger than a 15-foot cube. The image appears at a spot within range and lasts for the duration. The image is purely visual; it isn't accompanied by sound, smell, or other sensory effects.  
> \-------------------  
> I hope you guys like this chapter~ the whole teams finally together now!! im so excited!! stuffs gonna start a happening after this one so i guess be ready~  
> oh I've always been curious- how do you guys picture Milil? i always picture him as wearing sunglasses and he talks like the drunk fun aunt at family events but that doesn't fit into this world that much (or maybe it does- milil the inventor of the sunglass)  
> anyway i love when you guys talk to me i literally never shut up about fantasy au on tumblr and id probably never stop talking about it on twitter if...i actually knew people on twitter....but anyway o((*^▽^*))o enjoy~  
> tumblr: honeyboyfelix twitter: honeyboyhyunjin


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